THE FULL LOGICAL RULESET These rulesets are also online at http://agoranomic.org/ruleset/ Date of this ruleset: 18 Jun 2021 Date of last SLR ratification: 8 May 2019 Number of rules currently enacted: 143 Highest ID'd rule in this ruleset: 2652 Highest ID'd Proposal Passed: 8572 Highest ID'd Rule Enacted: 2652 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents: The Game of Agora * Rule 101: The Game of Agora * Rule 1698: Agora Is A Nomic Important Temporary Rules * Rule 2652: Popularity Contest Players * Rule 869: How to Join and Leave Agora * Rule 478: Fora * Rule 2139: The Registrar * Rule 1789: Cantus Cygneus * Rule 2646: Activity General Definitions * Rule 2152: Mother, May I? * Rule 2509: Agoran Numbers * Rule 2125: Regulated Actions * Rule 1023: Agoran Time * Rule 1728: Dependent Action Methods * Rule 2595: Performing a Dependent Action * Rule 2124: Agoran Satisfaction * Rule 2518: Determinacy * Rule 2505: Random Choices Entities * Rule 1586: Definition and Continuity of Entities * Rule 2162: Switches * Rule 1688: Power * Rule 2140: Power Controls Mutability Proposals * Rule 2350: Proposals * Rule 2622: Pending Proposals * Rule 2625: Proposal Recycling * Rule 2605: Ministries * Rule 2606: Proposal Classes * Rule 1607: Distribution * Rule 2137: The Assessor * Rule 106: Adopting Proposals * Rule 2623: Popular Proposal Proposer Privilege * Rule 2649: Vocal Voter Verification Award Rules & Regulations * Rule 2141: Role and Attributes of Rules * Rule 217: Interpreting the Rules * Rule 1030: Precedence between Rules * Rule 2240: No Cretans Need Apply * Rule 105: Rule Changes * Rule 2493: Regulations * Rule 2486: The Royal Parade * Rule 1051: The Rulekeepor * Rule 1681: The Logical Rulesets * Rule 2221: Cleanliness and Tidy Filing * Rule 2429: Bleach * Rule 2614: Eclipse Light Voting * Rule 693: Agoran Decisions * Rule 107: Initiating Agoran Decisions * Rule 2528: Voting Methods * Rule 683: Voting on Agoran Decisions * Rule 208: Resolving Agoran Decisions * Rule 955: Determining the Will of Agora * Rule 879: Quorum * Rule 2422: Voting Strength * Rule 2127: Conditional Votes * Rule 2168: Extending the Voting Period * Rule 1950: Decisions with Adoption Indices * Rule 2034: Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges Offices & Reporting * Rule 1006: Offices * Rule 2630: The Administrative State * Rule 2651: The Election Cycle * Rule 2154: Election Procedure * Rule 2573: Impeachment * Rule 2160: Deputisation * Rule 2138: The Associate Director of Personnel * Rule 2472: Office Incompatibilities * Rule 2143: Official Reports and Duties * Rule 2632: Complexity * Rule 2636: The Ministor * Rule 2603: Switch Responsiblity * Rule 2379: No News Is Some News * Rule 2616: The Webmastor Documents * Rule 1551: Ratification * Rule 2202: Ratification Without Objection * Rule 2201: Self-Ratification Justice * Rule 2555: Blots * Rule 2556: Penalties * Rule 2478: Vigilante Justice * Rule 2557: Sentencing Guidelines * Rule 2531: Defendant's Rights * Rule 2617: Defense Against the Dark Arts Calls for Judgement * Rule 991: Calls for Judgement * Rule 591: Delivering Judgements * Rule 911: Motions and Moots * Rule 2175: Judicial Retraction and Excess * Rule 2492: Recusal * Rule 2246: Submitting a CFJ to the Referee Obligations & Contracts * Rule 2471: No Faking * Rule 2450: Pledges * Rule 2466: Acting on Behalf * Rule 2618: Promises * Rule 2519: Consent * Rule 1742: Contracts * Rule 2608: The Notary * Rule 2631: Charities Assets * Rule 2166: Assets * Rule 2576: Ownership * Rule 2577: Asset Actions * Rule 2578: Currencies * Rule 2579: Fee-based Actions Economics * Rule 2456: The Treasuror * Rule 2483: Economics * Rule 2634: Buoyancy Control * Rule 2635: Floating Rate Fleet * Rule 2496: Rewards * Rule 2559: Paydays * Rule 2620: Cards & Sets * Rule 2621: VP Wins * Rule 2629: Victory Auctions * Rule 2624: Card Administration * Rule 2638: Player Focuses * Rule 2499: Welcome Packages * Rule 2585: Birthday Gifts * Rule 2545: Auctions Stones * Rule 2640: Stones * Rule 2641: Wielding Stones * Rule 2642: Distributing Stones * Rule 2643: Collecting Stones * Rule 2644: The Gauntlet * Rule 2645: The Stones Victory * Rule 2449: Winning the Game * Rule 2465: Victory by Apathy * Rule 2553: Win by Paradox Awards * Rule 2438: Ribbons * Rule 2602: Glitter * Rule 2480: Festivals * Rule 2481: Festival Restrictions * Rule 649: Patent Titles * Rule 2415: Badges * Rule 1367: Degrees * Rule 2231: Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic * Rule 2581: Official Patent Titles * Rule 2582: Annual Awards Leaders * Rule 103: The Speaker * Rule 104: First Speaker * Rule 2423: First Among Equals * Rule 2463: Motion of No Confidence * Rule 2451: Executive Orders * Rule 2575: The Distributor Agoran Culture * Rule 2327: Read the Ruleset Week * Rule 1727: Happy Birthday * Rule 2464: Tournaments * Rule 2566: Free Tournaments * Rule 2495: The Birthday Tournament * Rule 1769: Holidays * Rule 2029: Town Fountain ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Power Distribution: 1 with Power=0.3 43 with Power=1 2 with Power=1.5 5 with Power=1.7 33 with Power=2 1 with Power=2.2 1 with Power=2.5 47 with Power=3 3 with Power=3.1 1 with Power=3.14 2 with Power=3.2 1 with Power=3.3 3 with Power=4 ======================================================================== The Game of Agora This section includes a few rules concerning the Nature of the Game of Agora. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 101/17 (Power=4) The Game of Agora Agora is a game of Nomic, wherein Persons, acting in accordance with the Rules, communicate their game Actions and/or results of these actions via Fora in order to play the game. The game may be won, but the game never ends. Please treat Agora Right Good Forever. History: Initial immutable rule 101, Agora's birth Mutated from MI=unanimity to MI=3 by P1480, 15 Mar 1995 Amended(1) by P3915 'General Cleanup' (harvel), 27 Sep 1999 Amended(2) by P4833 'Tension makes a tangle' (Maud), 06 Aug 2005 Amended(3) by P4866 'Constitutional Repeals 2.0' (G.), 27 Aug 2006 Amended(4) by P4867 'Judicial Reform 2.0' (G.), 27 Aug 2006 Amended(5) by P4887 'Periodic Spell Check' (Murphy), 22 Jan 2007 Amended(6) by P4944 'allow Speaker deregistration' (Zefram), 03 May 2007 Amended(7) by P5090 'fix judicial rights' (Zefram), 25 Jul 2007 Amended(8) by P5731 'Loss of Privileges' [disi.] (G.), 08 Oct 2008 Retitled by P5769 'Protecting Rights' (G.), 17 Oct 2008 Amended(9) by P5769 'Protecting Rights' (G.), 17 Oct 2008 Amended(10) by P5773 'R101 Tidy' (G.), 17 Oct 2008 Amended(11) by P6028 'Allow conversion of sentences' (Murphy), 08 Jan 2009 Amended(12) by P6158 'Rule Change Rights' (G.), 31 Mar 2009 Amended(13) by P6589 'Clarify R101 deregistration' [green, disi.] (omd), 06 Dec 2009 Amended(14) by P7183 'Only Some Persons' (G.), 26 Feb 2012 Amended(15) by P7596 'a new right' (omd), 14 Sep 2013 Retitled by P7614 'Just Not Rights' (G.), 13 Jan 2014 Amended(16) by P7614 'Just Not Rights' (G.), 13 Jan 2014 Amended(17) by P7743 'Agora Wins Forever' (G.), 12 May 2015 Power changed from 3 to 4 by P7889 'Agora Protection Act' (Aris), 26 Sep 2017 Annotations: CFJ 24: Players must obey the Rules even in out-of-game actions. CFJ 825 (called 07 Nov 1995): Players must obey the Rules even if no Rule says so. CFJ 1848 (called 21 Dec 2007): The game must operate according to the rules that prevail at the time, and not attempt to incorporate any retroactive changes made in the future. CFJ 1709 (called 26 Jul 2007): The rules are binding on all those who play the game in the broader sense, regardless of whether they have the rule-defined status of "player". CFJ 1911-1914 (called 18 Mar 2008): Physical realities supersede the Rules by default. CFJ 3839 (called 03 Jun 2020): The game of Agora cannot end now; whether it will ever do so cannot be ascertained. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 1698/6 (Power=4) Agora Is A Nomic Agora is ossified if it is IMPOSSIBLE for any reasonable combination of actions by players to cause arbitrary rule changes to be made and/or arbitrary proposals to be adopted within a four-week period. If, but for this rule, the net effect of a proposal would cause Agora to become ossified, or would cause Agora to cease to exist, it cannot take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. If any other single change or inseparable group of changes to the gamestate would cause Agora to become ossified, or would cause Agora to cease to exist, it is cancelled and does not occur, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. History: Enacted by P3465 (Steve), 26 Apr 1997 Retitled by P5536 'Refactor Regulation' (Murphy), 07 Jun 2008 Amended(1) by P5536 'Refactor Regulation' (Murphy), 07 Jun 2008 Amended(2) by P7075 'Proposals are Atomic' (Alexis), 16 Jun 2011 Amended(3) by P7088 'Refactor 2, 3, 283' (omd), 23 Jul 2011 Amended(4) by P7628 'Secure Ending the Game' (ais523), 07 Apr 2014 Amended(5) by P7889 'Agora Protection Act' (Aris), 26 Sep 2017 Power changed from 3 to 4 by P7889 'Agora Protection Act' (Aris), 26 Sep 2017 Amended(6) by cleaning (Murphy), 03 Mar 2020 Annotations: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================== Important Temporary Rules This category is a temporary dumping ground for rules that don't easily fit in any other category but that hold special relevance for the current gamestate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 2652/0 (Power=1.0) Popularity Contest Immediately after the adoption of this rule, Aris wins the game. Then, for each person who voted unconditionally FOR the referendum on the proposal that enacted this rule, this rule causes that person to earn a Black Ribbon. Aris CAN cause this rule to make a specified player earn a Black Ribbon by announcement. Aris can cause this rule to award a specified player a specified patent title containing the string "Popular" by announcement. If it has been at least one month since this rule was adopted, any person CAN End the Contest by announcement, causing this rule to repeal itself. History: Enacted by P8565 'Popularity Contest' (Aris), 14 Jun 2021 Annotations: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================== Players This small section provides some rules detailing how joining and leaving Agora works. If you're a new player, this is probably the most important section to read. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 869/48 (Power=3) How to Join and Leave Agora Any entity (including a group of confederated entities) that is or ever was able to willingly communicate original ideas is a person. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, no other entities are persons. Questions about personhood are to be resolved equitably, with regard for the good-faith of those involved and the customs of honorable play. Citizenship is a secured person switch with values Unregistered (default) and Registered, tracked by the Registrar. A registered person is a Player. To "register" someone is to flip that person's Citizenship switch from Unregistered to Registered. An Unregistered person CAN (unless explicitly forbidden or prevented by the rules) register by publishing a message that indicates reasonably clearly and reasonably unambiguously that e intends to become a player at that time. No person can be a player if e is part of another player or another player is part of em. A player, acting as emself, CAN deregister (cease being a player) by announcement. If e does so, e CANNOT register or be registered for 30 days. A person, by registering, agrees to abide by the Rules. The Rules CANNOT otherwise bind a person to abide by any agreement without that person's willful consent. The Rules CANNOT compel non-players to act without their express or reasonably implied consent. The rules CANNOT compel players to unduly harass non-players. A non-person CANNOT be a player, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. History: Enacted by P498 (Alexx), 30 Sep 1993 Amended by P869 'Registered Players' (Garth), around 07 Apr 1994 Amended(1) by R750, around 07 Apr 1994 Amended(2) by P1313, 12 Nov 1994 Amended(3) by P1437, 21 Feb 1995 Amended(4) by P2040, 11 Dec 1995 Amended(5) by P2599, 11 May 1996 Amended(6) by P2718, 23 Oct 1996 Amended(7) by P3475 (Murphy), 11 May 1997 Amended(8) by P3740 'Repeal Rule 1706 (Locations)' (Repeal-O-Matic), 08 May 1998 Amended(9) by P3923 'Simplify Registration' (harvel), 10 Oct 1999 Amended(10) by P4011 'New Terminology' (Wes), 01 Jun 2000 Amended(11) by P4147 'What is Public?' (Wes), 13 May 2001 Amended(12) by P4155 'Help New Players' (harvel), 18 May 2001 Amended(13) by P4430 'Lingering Grace' (Cecilius), 16 Jan 2003 Amended(14) by P4451 'Holiday Registration Fix' (Cecilius), 22 Feb 2003 Amended(15) by P4523 'Mornington Crescent' (Murphy), 28 Aug 2003 Amended(16) by P4693 'A Few Small Steps' (Maud), 18 Apr 2005 Amended(17) by P4802 'How to Join Agora' (Muad), 15 Jun 2005 Amended(18) by P4833 'Tension makes a tangle' (Maud), 06 Aug 2005 Amended(19) by P4989 'down with non-person players' (Zefram), 06 Jun 2007 Amended(20) by P5007 'generalize naturalhood' (Zefram), 18 Jun 2007 Amended(21) by P5011 'define registration' (Zefram), 24 Jun 2007 Amended(22) by P5086 'judicial reform' (Zefram), 01 Aug 2007 Amended(23) by P5111 'Return of switches' (Murphy), 02 Aug 2007 Amended(24) by P5117 'restore deregistration of non-persons' [disi.] (Zefram), 08 Aug 2007 Amended(25) by P5156 'fix registration definitions (again)' (Zefram), 29 Aug 2007 Amended(26) by P5271 'Implicit Switches v1.1' (Murphy), 07 Nov 2007 Power changed from 1 to 2 by P5728 'What, still?' (ihope), 07 Oct 2008 Amended(27) by P5728 'What, still?' (ihope), 07 Oct 2008 Amended(28) by P5973 'Highly Limited Partnerships' (woggle), 25 Nov 2008 Amended(29) by P6099 'Fix the deregistration mess' (Pavitra), 22 Feb 2009 Amended(30) by P6349 'Newbie Friendly' (Pavitra), 17 Jun 2009 Amended(31) by P6382 'Fix switches' (Murphy), 03 Jul 2009 Amended(32) by P6620 'Registration is not dependent' [green, disi.] (Murphy), 04 Feb 2010 Amended(33) by P6974 'No dishonor in deregistration' (Murphy), 30 Mar 2011 Amended(34) by P7269 'not funny anymore' (FKA441344, G.), 25 Jul 2012 Amended(35) by P7610 'Low-hanging Fruit' (G.), 22 Dec 2013 Power changed from 2 to 3 by P7610 'Low-hanging Fruit' (G.), 22 Dec 2013 Amended(36) by P7614 'Just Not Rights' (G.), 13 Jan 2014 Amended(37) by P7619 'Rules can't violate rules!' (woggle), 24 Jan 2014 Amended(38) by P7647 'formatting/misc fixes' (omd), 03 Jun 2014 Amended(39) by P7734 'Protest Noted' (G.), 02 May 2015 Amended(40) by P7810 'Cleerer Registrar Responsibilities' (nch), 11 Sep 2016 Amended(41) by P7924 'Contracts v8' (Aris, o, G., ais523, Gaelan, D.F.F., Cuddlebeam, R. Lee, Trigon, Alexis, P.S.S.), 22 Oct 2017 Amended(42) by P7931 'Registration fix finally' (G.), 06 Nov 2017 Amended(43) by P7959 'Deregistration Fix' (Telnaior), 12 Nov 2017 Amended(44) by P8051 'Zombie Overhaul v1.0' (G., Aris), 14 Jun 2018 Amended(45) by P8163 'Holey Loops, Batman!' (twg), 22 Feb 2019 Amended(46) by P8241 'Secured switches (v2.0)' (Jason, Falsifian), 18 Sep 2019 Amended(47) by P8485 'Eternal Personhood' (Gaelan, Aris), 10 Aug 2020 Amended(48) by P8535 'We the People' (Aris, Trigon, nix, G., Gaelan), 03 Feb 2021 Annotations: CFJ 1275 (called 19 Feb 2001): An entity is a Player if the Rules cannot distinguish that entity from a Player. CFJ 1263 (called 05 Feb 2001): Any message expressing a clear desire or intent to register as a Player counts as a request for registration, whether or not it is explicitly phrased in the manner stipulated by the rules. CFJ 3558 (called 06 Sep 2017): Registering by publishing that you want to be a player is a different mechanism than registering "by announcement" and so gets around rules limitations on "registering by announcement". CFJ 3625 (called 12 Feb 2018): The rules don't bind recently deregistered players to avoid re-registering, they merely declare such attempts ineffective. Also, agreeing to be bound by some of the rules doesn't count as agreeing to be bound by all of them. CFJ 3877 (called 15 Aug 2020): Multiple intelligences in one organism constitute one Agoran person. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 478/38 (Power=3) Fora Freedom of speech being essential for the healthy functioning of any non-Imperial nomic, it is hereby resolved that no Player shall be prohibited from participating in the Fora, nor shall any person create physical or technological obstacles that unduly favor some players' fora access over others. Publicity is a secured forum switch with values Public, Discussion, and Foreign (default), tracked by the Registrar. The Registrar may change the publicity of a forum without objection as long as: 1. e sends eir announcement of intent to that forum; and 2. if the forum is to be made public, the announcement by which the Registrar makes that forum public is sent to all existing public fora. Each player should ensure e can receive messages via each public forum. A public message is a message sent via a public forum, or sent to all players and containing a clear designation of intent to be public. A rule can also designate that a part of one public message is considered a public message in its own right. To "publish" or "announce" something is to send a public message whose body contains that thing. To do something "publicly" is to do that thing within a public message. Where the rules define an action that a person CAN perform "by announcement", that person performs that action by unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and announcing that e performs it. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. Actions in messages (including sub-messages) are performed in the order they appear in the message, unless otherwise specified. History: Enacted by P478 (Jim Shea), 20 Sep 1993 Amended(1) by P1477, 08 Mar 1995 Amended(2) by P1576, 28 Apr 1995 Amended(3) by P1610, 10 Jul 1995 Amended(4) by P1700, 01 Sep 1995 Amended(5) by P2052, 19 Dec 1995 Amended(6) by P2400, 20 Jan 1996 Amended(7) by P2739 (Swann), 07 Nov 1996 Amended(8) by P2791 (Andre), 30 Jan 1997 Amended(9) by P3521 (Chuck), 23 Jun 1997 Amended(10) by P3823 'Spring Cleaning' (Ørjan), 21 Jan 1999 Amended(11) by P4147 'What is Public?' (Wes), 13 May 2001 Amended(12) by P4248 'Fix Discussion Forum' (Murphy), 19 Feb 2002 Amended(13) by P4456 'Switches' (Maud), 22 Feb 2003 Power changed from 1 to 3 by P4690 'Protect the Native Fora' (root), 18 Apr 2005 Amended(14) by P4690 'Protect the Native Fora' (root), 18 Apr 2005 Amended(15) by P4833 'Tension makes a tangle' (Maud), 06 Aug 2005 Amended(16) by P4866 'Constitutional Repeals 2.0' (G.), 27 Aug 2006 Amended(17) by P4939 'Re-divide some offices' (Murphy), 29 Apr 2007 Amended(18) by P5014 'no private messages' (Zefram), 24 Jun 2007 Amended(19) by P5111 'Return of switches' (Murphy), 02 Aug 2007 Amended(20) by P5172 'Refactor glasnost' (Murphy), 29 Aug 2007 Amended(21) by P5272 'Implicit Forum Switches' [disi.] (Murphy), 07 Nov 2007 Amended(22) by P5291 'Clarify Actions' (root), 14 Nov 2007 Amended(23) by P5535 'These things are not just for players' (Murphy), 07 Jun 2008 Amended(24) by P5613 'No more Capitol' (Quazie), 29 Jul 2008 Amended(25) by P5639 'Refactor clarity' (Murphy), 29 Jul 2008 Amended(26) by P5818 'Require Clear Announcements' (omd), 01 Nov 2008 Amended(27) by P6022 'Cleanup of Power=3 definitions' (Murphy), 22 Dec 2008 Amended(28) by P6785 'Attourney Adjustment' [purple, disi.] (Alexis), 22 Aug 2010 Amended(29) by P6963 'Protect fora' (Murphy), 20 Mar 2011 Amended(30) by P7073 'Compression Artifact' (woggle), 16 Jun 2011 Amended(31) by P7614 'Just Not Rights' (G.), 13 Jan 2014 Amended(32) by P7632 'All Activity is Good Activity' (Alexis), 01 May 2014 Amended(33) by P7810 'Cleerer Registrar Responsibilities' (nch), 11 Sep 2016 Amended(34) by R2430, 24 May 2017 Amended(35) by P8241 'Secured switches (v2.0)' (Jason, Falsifian), 18 Sep 2019 Amended(36) by P8248 'Publishing definition' (Jason, Aris), 18 Sep 2019 Amended(37) by P8275 '"By announcement" clarification' (Jason), 01 Dec 2019 Amended(38) by P8336 'Define "publicly"' (Jason), 24 Feb 2020 Annotations: CFJ 1451-1452 (called 06 Mar 2003): A message that is split into multiple email messages can qualify as a single message for game purposes, if it is obvious how to combine the parts to reconstruct the single message. CFJ 752 (called 13 Mar 1995): Something sent to a Player who is obligated to send it to all Players is sufficient for sending something to the PF. CFJ 813 (called 22 Oct 1995): A Player need not prove that e can receive the PF. CFJ 831 (called 10 Nov 1995): 'The Date: header of a message is not necessarily the time at which the message takes effect.' CFJ 2205 (called 02 Oct 2008): A message takes effect at exactly one of the times date-stamped on it; selecting which one is a matter of game custom. CFJ 2212 (called 07 Oct 2008): An IRC channel is a forum. CFJ 2211 (called 07 Oct 2008): It is generally possible for an IRC channel to be a public forum. CFJ 2214 (called 07 Oct 2008): Some IRC messages, such as NICK, are sent to all members of an IRC channel but are not sent via that channel. CFJ 866 (called 08 Apr 1996): A message is "received" when the message enters the recipient's normal technical domain of control, whether this be eir private machine or eir private account on a shared machine (but not the shared machine itself, if the recipient does not control it). CFJ 1112: In order to submit a Proposal, in the sense of R1865 and elsewhere, it is not sufficient that a collection of text 'with the clear indication that that text is intended to become a Proposal' (R1483) merely be sent to the Public Forum by a Proposing Entity; the collection of text must also be received in the Public Forum. CFJ 1214-1215 (called 14 May 2000): Conditional actions (of the form "If X, I do Y") are effective only where the relevant agents (such as recordkeepors) are able to conclusively determine the value of the conditional from publicly-available information. CFJ 1314 (called 15 Aug 2001): If a message sent to a public forum is rejected by the list moderator, it still qualifies as having been sent via a public forum. CFJ 1905 (called 07 Feb 2008): Regardless of CFJ 1314, a message has not been sent via a forum until most persons who have arranged to receive messages via the forum receive it. CFJ 1888 (called 31 Jan 2008): Sending a message to a Discussion Forum, or other mailing list except for a Public Forum, does not qualify as sending it to all players. CFJ 1631 (called 29 Apr 2007): Public announcements must be made in the message body; the subject line is insignificant. CFJ 1784 (called 05 Nov 2007): An undescriptive or misleading subject line does not deprive the message body of effect. CFJ 1880 (called 22 Jan 2008): A phrase that would, in the message body, cancel the effect of the rest of the message, does not have such an effect if it appears in the subject line. CFJ 1761 (called 30 Sep 2007): Publishing part of a message is a different action from publishing the whole message. CFJ 1646 (called 30 Apr 2007): The act of "publishing" or "announcing" is accomplished when the message has left the sender's technical domain of control, indicated by one of the "Received:" headers0. CFJ 1695 (called 23 Jun 2007): A partnership, which by its nature can't directly send email, can participate in the fora by means of its members sending messages on its behalf, if its governing agreement says so. CFJ 1768 (called 22 Oct 2007): The right of participation in the fora is the right to participate in them for their intended purposes, and is not necessarily infringed by regulations regarding the manner and type of participation. CFJ 1738 (called 29 Aug 2007): An obligation on a player to not publish statements that e believes are true would conflict with the right of participation in the fora. CFJ 1719 (called 12 Aug 2007): A player can, if e intends, have public messages sent on eir behalf, including via a web form that allows all-comers to send messages on eir behalf without specific approval. CFJ 1833-1834 (called 18 Dec 2007): A player can, by contractual arrangement, grant another player the capacity to act by announcement on eir behalf. CFJ 1893 (called 03 Feb 2008): A non-consensual non-contractual arrangement cannot grant a player the capacity to act by announcement on behalf of another. CFJ 2397 (called 03 Mar 2009): A player can grant or revoke permission at will for another player to act by announcement on eir behalf. CFJ 2322 (called 24 Dec 2008): The ability to act on behalf can be created by any willful agreement. CFJ 1336 (called 13 Dec 2001): A public statement that one wishes to perform an action that one can perform by announcement can constitute an announcement that performs that action. CFJ 1621 (called 08 Feb 2007): Where an action can be performed by announcement, announcing that one deems something to be the case that would result from that action does not constitute performing the action. CFJ 1584 (called 24 Feb 2006), CFJ 1728 (called 20 Aug 2007): ' Saying "I do X 1000 times", where X is something that can be done by announcement, is an acceptable shorthand for 1000 instances of "I do X", but this shorthand cannot be used with an infinite repeat count, because it is impossible to write out an infinite number of instances of "I do X".' CFJ 1774 (called 01 Nov 2007): Saying "I do X 10000 times", where X is something that can be done by announcement, does not necessarily achieve 10000 instances of X, if writing out 10000 instances of "I do X" would be a substantial effort such that using the shorthand is abusive. The presumption is in favour of the shorthand being successful. CFJ 1775 (called 01 Nov 2007): If an announcement of the form "I do X N times" is not be acceptable shorthand for N instances of "I do X", then the announcement is completely nullified, and does not have the effect of M instances of "I do X" for any non-zero repeat count M. CFJ 1730 (called 22 Aug 2007): An appropriate announcement will accomplish an action even if its author believed the action was impossible. CFJ 1841 (called 20 Dec 2007): A message-based action cannot be retroactive. CFJ 1971 (called 22 May 2008): An announcement with a general disclaimer as to its contents cannot fulfill a requirement to report information, but it may successfully cause game actions to be taken if the actions do not depend on the truth value of the disclaimed contents. CFJ 2133 (called 09 Aug 2008): A disclaimed statement cannot cause an action to be taken by announcement. CFJ 2112 (called 23 Jul 2008): An action is only taken by announcement if the Rules define it as such; e.g., posting an objection to a dependent action is not an action taken by announcement. CFJ 2151 (called 05 Sep 2008): Some unregulated actions, such as celebrating and revealing things, can be taken by announcement. CFJ 2086 (called 15 Jul 2008): Message-based actions are always taken in some order, never precisely simultaneously, possibly unless otherwise stated. CFJ 2179 (called 23 Sep 2008): An message-based action can be taken even if its sender cannot be identified. CFJ 2221 (called 13 Oct 2008): When an action is specified as "can do X in order to do Y", and a player does X without specifying intent to do Y, e does not do Y. CFJ 2238 (called 22 Oct 2008): The requirement of unambiguous specification applies to the parameters of an action. CFJ 2363 (called 01 Feb 2009): "X can do Y by doing Z" does not imply that X can do Z. CFJ 2441 (called 06 Apr 2009): Due to a limitation of the mailing list archives, attaching a message with a particular text does not count as publishing that text. CFJ 3025 (called 15 May 2011): If it is clear what he did, then it must be clear what he did; if it is not clear what he did, then it is not clear what he did. CFJ 3106 (called 19 Oct 2011): When a person announces that "e performs" an action, the referent of "e" (i.e. eir identity) must be clear. CFJ 3002 (called 19 Apr 2011): A message of the form "This statement causes {action}" is ineffective as a way to perform {action}, and may be an attempt to act on behalf of the statement. CFJ 2899 (called 12 Nov 2010): A player's real name does not necessary identify em. CFJ 3409 (called 09 Apr 2014): An action can be performed in the subject line of a message, if it sufficiently clear (as outlined in the judgment). CFJ 3603-3604 (called 16 Nov 2017): ASCII art of text can be clear enough to suffice for communications, and in particular for taking actions by announcement. CFJ 3630 (called 02 Mar 2018): An action referencing outside content requires that the attempt to act is clear, the nature of the attempted action is clear, and the outside context cannot be altered by em and will remain available long enough for others to interpret it. CFJ 3642 (called 15 Jun 2018): Regardless of CFJ 1314, a message has not been sent via a public forum if its non-reception by some persons who arranged to receive it has affected which game actions they chose to take or not to take. CFJ 3790 (called 01 Jan 2020): The sender of a message is the last exerciser of free will that exercised free will on its path. CFJ 3887 (called 06 Sep 2020): A forum is an open medium for communication. CFJ 3855 (called 22 Jun 2020): Emails from two or more persons never constitute one Agoran message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 2139/17 (Power=2) The Registrar The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of players. The Registrar's weekly report includes: 1. A list of all players, including information sufficient to identify and contact each player. 2. The date on which each player most recently became a player. 3. For each forum with non-Foreign publicity, sufficient instructions for players to receive messages there. The Registrar's monthly report includes: 1. For each former player for which the information is reasonably available, the dates on which e registered and deregistered. History: Enacted by P4939 'Re-divide some offices' (Murphy), 29 Apr 2007 Amended(1) by P5172 'Refactor glasnost' (Murphy), 29 Aug 2007 Amended(2) by P6322 'Better Reports' (Wooble), 26 May 2009 Amended(3) by P6567 'Self-Ratifying Census' [green] (Walker), 28 Nov 2009 Amended(4) by P6567 'Self-Ratifying Census' [green] (Walker), 28 Nov 2009 Power changed from 1 to 2 by P6567 'Self-Ratifying Census' [green] (Walker), 28 Nov 2009 Amended(5) by P7141 'master switcher' (G.), 19 Nov 2011 Amended(6) by P7416 'Not my job' (omd), 12 May 2013 Amended(7) by P7586 'Self-ratification, victory, office changes' (omd), 24 Aug 2013 Amended(8) by P7632 'All Activity is Good Activity' (Alexis), 01 May 2014 Amended(9) by P7810 'Cleerer Registrar Responsibilities' (nch), 11 Sep 2016 Amended(10) by R2430, 24 May 2017 Amended(11) by P7924 'Contracts v8' (Aris, o, G., ais523, Gaelan, D.F.F., Cuddlebeam, R. Lee, Trigon, Alexis, P.S.S.), 22 Oct 2017 Amended(12) by P7998 'Eastman weeks' (Murphy, ATMunn), 31 Jan 2018 Amended(13) by P8176 'Zombies take care of this now' (G.), 13 May 2019 Amended(14) by P8273 'Clean up your own mess, without making a bigger one' (Gaelan, Jason), 11 Nov 2019 Amended(15) by P8422 'No More Numbers!' (Publius Scribonius Scholasticus, G., Trigon, Aris, nch), 14 Jun 2020 Amended(16) by P8422 'No More Numbers!' (Publius Scribonius Scholasticus, G., Trigon, Aris, nch), 14 Jun 2020 Amended(17) by P8423 'Removing Repetition' (Publius Scribonious Scholasticus, G.), 14 Jun 2020 Annotations: CFJ 1703 (called 13 Jul 2007): A player cannot change eir nickname by announcement if the new nickname that e specifies is the current nickname of another player. CFJ 1361 (called 07 May 2002): Purporting to assign a new nickname, previously unused to refer to any entity, to another player is successful, but does not displace the target's existing name or nickname. CFJ 1489 (called 11 Feb 2004): Watchers are not a rule-defined element of the game. CFJ 1420 (called 17 Dec 2002): The list of watchers, customarily published with the registrar's report, is part of the game state, even though it is not mentioned in the rules and no one is obliged to track or publish it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 1789/11 (Power=3) Cantus Cygneus Whenever a Player feels that e has been treated so egregiously by the Agoran community that e can no longer abide to be a part of it, e may submit a document to the Registrar, clearly labeled a Cantus Cygneus, detailing eir grievances and expressing eir reproach for those who e feels have treated em so badly. In a timely fashion after receiving a Cantus Cygneus, the Registrar shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugiendae Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered. The Registrar shall note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar monthly Reports. The Player is deregistered as of the posting of the Writ, and the notation in the Registrar's monthly report will ensure that, henceforth, all may know said Player deregistered in a Writ of FAGE. History: Enacted by P3705 'Canteus Cygneus' (Crito), 09 Mar 1998 Amended(1) by P4099 'Spelling Fixes, Part 1 of 2' (Murphy), 15 Jan 2001 Amended(2) by P4147 'What is Public?' (Wes), 13 May 2001 Amended(3) by P4825 'Omnibus Spelling Fix' (Maud), 17 Jul 2005 Power changed from 1 to 2 by P5780 'Fix Rule 1789' (omd, ehird), 22 Oct 2008 Amended(4) by P5815 'The Registrar is an office again now.' (Pavitra, Murphy), 01 Nov 2008 Amended(5) by P5991 'Cantus Cygneus Only If You Mean It v2' (Elysion), 07 Dec 2008 Amended(6) by P6099 'Fix the deregistration mess' (Pavitra), 22 Feb 2009 Amended(7) by P6338 'FAGE across the ages' (Murphy), 29 May 2009 Amended(8) by P7470 'Finish d-ASAP'ing' [disi.] (woggle), 17 Jun 2013 Amended(9) by P7646 'Latin fix' (omd), 03 Jun 2014 Power changed from 2 to 3 by P7989 'Don't FAGE the FAGE' (Telnaior), 13 Jan 2018 Amended(10) by P8367 'Slow burn' (Murphy, Falsifian), 17 Apr 2020 Amended(11) by P8376 'Additional fire retardant' (Falsifian), 06 May 2020 Annotations: CFJ 1594 (called 16 Dec 2006): Players can be deregistered due to this rule even if there is no Registrar. CFJ 2358 (called 26 Jan 2009): A document which is labeled as a Cantus Cygneus but does not actually detail grievances, etc. is not a Cantus Cygneus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 2646/0 (Power=1) Activity Activity is a player switch tracked by the Registrar, with values Active (default) and Inactive. To flip a player's activity to active (inactive) is to activate (deactivate) em. The date on which each player's activity was last changed is part of the Registrar's weekly report. A player CAN activate or deactivate emself by announcement. Any player CAN, with notice, make a player who has not made a public announcement in the past 30 days inactive. If a player has been inactive continuously for the past 60 days, then any player CAN deregister em without 3 objections. The Registrar SHOULD attempt to deregister players who meet this condition. The publication of intent for such a deregistration SHOULD be sent to the inactive player's registered email address at the same time that it is published. History: Enacted by P8532 'Turn Undead v2' (G.), 03 Feb 2021 Annotations: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================== General Definitions This section describes the terminology used by all the other rules. If, when reading a rule, you don't understand what a word means, chances are that the Agoran definition of that word is described in one of these rules. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rule 2152/8 (Power=3) Mother, May I? The following terms are defined. These definitions are used when a rule includes a term in all caps, and provide guidance in determining the ordinary-language meaning of a term when a rule includes a term otherwise. Earlier definitions take precedence over later ones. If a rule specifies one or more persons in connection with a term, then the term applies only to the specified person(s). 1. CANNOT, IMPOSSIBLE, INEFFECTIVE, INVALID: Attempts to perform the described action are unsuccessful. 2. MUST NOT, MAY NOT, SHALL NOT, ILLEGAL, PROHIBITED: Performing the described action violates the rule in question. 3. NEED NOT, OPTIONAL: Failing to perform the described action does not violate the rules. 4. SHOULD NOT, DISCOURAGED, DEPRECATED: Before performing the described action, the full implications of performing it should be understood and carefully weighed. 5. CAN, POSSIBLE: Attempts to perform the described action are successful. 6. MAY: Performing the described action does not violate the rules. 7. MUST, SHALL, REQUIRED, MANDATORY: Failing to perform the described action violates the rule in question. 8. SHOULD, ENCOURAGED, RECOMMENDED: Before failing to perform the described action, the full implications of failing to perform it should (in the ordinary-language sense) be understood and carefully weighed. History: Enacted by P5053 'Mother, May I with Power 1?' (Murphy), 05 Jul 2007 Power changed from 1 to 2 by P5054 'Mother, May I with Power 2?' (Murphy), 05 Jul 2007 Amended(1) by P5189 'More MMI' (Levi), 03 Sep 2007 Power changed from 2 to 3 by P5247 (AFO), 14 Oct 2007 Amended(2) by P5353 'Fix MMI bullets' [disi.] (Murphy), 16 Dec 2007 Amended(3) by P5354 'MMI parallelism' (Murphy), 16 Dec 2007 Amended(4) by P5535 'These things are not just for players' (Murphy), 07 Jun 2008 Amended(5) by P6571 'This gets on my nerves' [green] (ais523), 28 Nov 2009 Amended(6) by P6983 'Fix MMI' (Murphy), 10 Apr 2011 Amended(7) by P7613 'What is PERMITTED NEED NOT be POSSIBLE' (Arufonsu), 11 Jan 2014 Amended(8) by P8254 'Anything is POSSIBLE' (Jason), 03 Nov 2019 Annotations: CFJ 1132: A Player failing to perform a duty required by the Rules within a reasonable time may be in violation of the Rules, even if the Rules do not provide a time limit for the performance of that duty. CFJ 1488 (called 11 Feb 2004): Engineering a situation in which other players are unable to follow a particular rule is not in itself a violation of that rule. CFJ 2395 (called 01 Mar 2009): Even without this being explicitly specified in the rules, it is possible for a non-player to violate a rule by missing a deadline. CFJ 1990 (called 07 Jun 2008): "Allowed" may refer to either possibility or permissibility depending on context. CFJ 2120-2121 (called 04 Aug 2008): A requirement of the form 'within